As 'Go Public' campaign grows, some school districts have eye on charters

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SAN ANTONIO — Cheryl Duckers nearly crashed her car the first time she saw herself on a billboard on U.S. 281, one of several across the North Side that show her being hugged by students last February as a newly announced finalist for the H-E-B Excellence in Education Awards.

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Now people stop her in the grocery store and ask if they've seen her before. Duckers, a third-grade teacher at Cambridge Elementary School in the Alamo Heights Independent School District, is one face of the “Go Public” marketing campaign by school districts in Bexar County, now entering its second year.

“It's not just a model on a billboard,” Duckers said of the push to highlight the value and successes of public education. “It's a real person who does their real job.”

Contributions from the districts, which have increased to a total of $200,000 for the coming year, will pay for radio and TV spots and print materials as well. Private donors, including USAA and Toyota, matched last year's total of $138,000 almost dollar for dollar.

Members of the Go Public steering committee pointed to a survey last month in which 40 percent of respondents said they had a strong positive impression of local public schools, up from 27 percent a year earlier.

“The more they understand what's going on in school, the better they feel about schools in general and the schools in their particular location,” said Brian T. Woods, superintendent of Northside ISD.

Something else is emerging as the campaign gains traction: a willingness within school districts to talk about the rapid expansion of charter school competition as a reason to toot their own horn — even as Go Public spokesmen continue to deny that it's a factor.

“We think we offer the finest product that people have access to, and others who offer different but related products have been advertising their services, and up until now we really had not,” Woods said.

The districts contribute based on their enrollment. A nonprofit called the Bexar County School Boards Coalition manages the money for everything from vehicle magnets to banners, bus advertisements, broadcast time and publicity by The DeBerry Group. Go Public this year will highlight teachers and extracurricular activities, including athletics and clubs.

Some districts have launched their own complementary marketing campaigns. Harlandale ISD began one that coincided with the opening of an IDEA charter school across the street from its headquarters a few months before Go Public launched. The effort by Drew Advertising grew to include billboards and commercials at movie theaters, touting Harlandale's advantages — such as deep roots in the community and a wide range of extracurricular activities, said Leslie Garza, district spokeswoman.

“We don't see charter schools as a problem,” she said. “They remind us that we need to tell our own story because they do such a good job of it. Public schools have never had to do that before.”

Edgewood ISD began an in-house campaign about two years ago, said spokesman Roland Martinez. Last school year, it requested student directory information from every charter school in Bexar County — not all responded — then used the information to send postcards to charter families within the district, Martinez said.

The postcard reads, “If you're not here, you're missing out!” and features photos of students in science and band programs.

An IDEA school opened in September less than a mile from Edgewood's main office. The district's enrollment has remained flat, which Martinez takes as proof that its campaign is working.

“I think school districts realize that there's competition now, so it's up to us to showcase the good things that are happening in public schools, which is what Go Public is doing, and then at the local level,” he said.

San Antonio ISD has run a marketing campaign for years, with billboards, brochures, radio spots and theater ads, said spokeswoman Leslie Price.

“There is a lot more competition than there used to be in the past for students,” Price said. “There's private schools. There's charters. ... We have excellent schools and we would like to have the children in our neighborhood all attending here.”

Until last month, Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD was one of the few traditional districts with students in Bexar County that hadn't joined Go Public. Its board voted 4-3 to participate after a lengthy debate that included Trustee George Ricks asking how the district was going to benefit from its $15,000 contribution and questioning its appropriateness as a public expenditure.

“Are we trying to steal students away from private schools?” he asked.

The district should promote itself, board member Gary Inmon argued.

“If you don't get the positive word out, the negative word sticks, which really does hurt the entire system,” he said.

Go Public also has an internal effect, boosting morale, with each district airing the campaign's promotional video at its back-to-school convocation, educators said.

“I'm looking out at 1,500 people, looking back,” said Lloyd Verstuyft, superintendent of Southwest ISD. “You could see it in their eyes. You could see it in their body language. They're sitting up taller, and they understand that the role they play is extremely important, and we have to tell that story.”

The Texas School Public Relations Association gave the Go Public campaign its “Bright Idea Award” this year, and school systems across the state and country are asking how they can replicate it, steering committee members said.

Diana Kendall, a grandmother of two elementary school children in Northside, said she supports Go Public but formed the organization SAYes2PublicSchools to discuss charter competition more explicitly, because she believes the state's funding of charters is part of an erosion of commitment to traditional public schools.

Rolando Posada, executive director of the IDEA charter network's San Antonio schools, said its advertising seeks to explain its mission to prepare every student for college. Word of mouth has helped, too, and it now has 3,000 potential students on a waiting list to enroll in a San Antonio campus.

“When I see a Go Public sign on the side of the street, it just encourages me that people are being more purposeful about education in general,” Posada said. “If we're provoking that, I'd say, then we're just making education become better for all kids.”